


The Reasons (Butterfly Ball)

by allegheny



Category: Baseball RPF
Genre: 2019 MLB Season, Baby Jays, Fluff, M/M, Toronto Blue Jays, the pitcher catcher relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-29
Updated: 2019-11-29
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:47:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21600571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allegheny/pseuds/allegheny
Summary: I know you might roll your eyes at thisBut I'm so glad that you existRyan keeps a butterfly safe during a September game. Danny loves him.
Relationships: Danny Jansen/Ryan Borucki
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	The Reasons (Butterfly Ball)

**Author's Note:**

> That one Friday the 13th game where Tim Mayza fucked up his arm, and a butterfly landed on an [oblivious Yankees pitcher's glove](https://twitter.com/cut4/status/1172705401017708546?s=21). Later, the butterfly found a home on Ryan Borucki's glove in the dugout and he [kept it safe](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/493094953036021760/622265805777666058/image0.png) [for a while](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/493094953036021760/622266942165745685/Screen_Shot_2019-09-13_at_20.02.08.png). 
> 
> A butterfly ball is the French-derived name for a knuckleball.

Danny loves it when Ryan calls him _his_ catcher.  
Well, everybody does. All his pitchers, that is.  
But Danny still loves it when Ryan does it. Because it means something else. Because it means more, and he's the only one that knows it.  
It's like a secret pet name.  
Well, Danny hates pitchers and loves pitchers and has a complicated relationship with pitchers, feels that if he'd been smarter and shorter he'd have become a therapist for sure, because it's a labor of love and patience to hold ten, twelve grown men's psyche in his hands and looped around a ring like keys at his side for him to wind up and undo. It's a lot of power and he's always wanted to do it right, build the trust falls and the off-field chemistry, but with Ryan off-field means his bedroom, and chemistry means naked time.  
And it's just fine that way. 

Danny loves it when Ryan touches him.  
Most of the time it's a playful poke, or a tap on the back, or an ass slap, or a high five, or a hug. Kind of jabbing, kind of short kind of touch like a fresh glass of water after a sprint.  
But Danny still loves it when Ryan does it. Because it's like an asterisk, a footnote calling back to "last night in bed" or "last week in the bathroom" or "the first time we kissed, in the bowling alley parking lot". When Wisconsin winters get harsh, coats and layers get in the way but touch is touch and warmth is warmth and thank god baseball's a summer game and Danny's fingers can glide against Ryan's fuzzy elbow to ground him or congratulate him without the earthy softness of wool inbetween their skins. And then when they're in bed the bareness of their bodies clasped together runs his blood twice as fast through his body like he's a plant in the sunlight.  
They wanted best friends back in the minors. They got more and it's just fine that way.

Danny watches Ryan's hand, curled around his glove, the monarch butterfly resting on the leather peacefully, and Ryan's calm, doting face, his eyes scanning the world around him like he's taking notes and assessing and planning, just to protect that beautiful thing in his delicate hands. The goofy-looking face, the Polish profile that Danny hadn't really found attractive right away, they look like home now. No matter how much Ryan repeats that Danny's out of his league, when they're tangled up in bed after a really good fuck, Danny thinks, well, maybe he is. But it doesn't really matter, does it, those arbitrary rankings of attractiveness, because Ryan shines out like a star, and makes Danny laugh so much, and knows how to take care of Danny, with the same gentle hands shielding this butterfly from the chaos at Rogers Center, when Danny's tired of taking care of others all the time. 

Danny adjusts his white headband and looks over at Ryan's impassible face, at the monarch on his yellow glove, small and fragile. Thinks about butterfly balls and Canada and Luke's knuckler. Wonders if Ryan should try that out, if it's a sign that he should take up Wakefield's mantle. Quickly admits to himself that he's crazy enough that he wouldn't have a problem learning to catch a knuckleball for Ryan.  
Looks over again from behind his field glasses as they gear back up for the top of the inning, and smiles. Later that night, never great with words, Ryan stumbles when Danny brings it up, in a strange act of telepathy.

"It made me think of you. Same color." He touches Danny's auburn curls lightly. "And you're both real pretty."

Danny's 6'3. But he lies there in Ryan's arms, eyes closed, and, well.  
Danny loves it when Ryan makes him feel butterfly-small.

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked it, please leave a comment! thank you for reading!


End file.
